Which children are most vulnerable to abuse?

There is no way to know which children are most vulnerable to abuse, but there are some factors for abuse and neglect risk to be aware of

Child factors:

• very young children
• children with disabilities and health problems
• children who have already been, or are currently being, abused and/or neglected

Parental factors:

• parents who are young when child is born
• parents who are poorly informed about parenting
• mental health issues, especially untreated (e.g. depression, antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse and related disorders)

Other contextual factors:
Family factors

• single parent households
• intimate-partner violence
• emotional and financial stress

Environmental factors

• poverty
• social isolation
• violence in the community